My Fluffy Butt Part I

One of the things I've learned in the past 3 months about parenting is that no one can really tell you what parenting is like, or what your child will be like, or what your child will need.  It turns out that EVERY baby is completely different, and what works best for one baby may be the worst thing in the world for your baby. I found this to be especially true with lots and lots of baby products.  Over the 8 months of my pregnancy, people would tell me, "oh you NEED this," or "I couldn't live without that."  A lot of the things I bought on recommendations are things we rarely use now, because Ryan simply does not like them. 

When it came to diapers, most people I talked to balked at the idea of cloth diapering.  I had been toying around with cloth diapers for months while I was pregnant.  But, everyone assured me that disposables are the way to go.  So, as any good first time mom, I listened to the advice, collected the evidence, and agreed, disposables would be the best thing for Ryan and myself.  Then, I had Ryan, all adorable, lovable 7 kilos of Ryan, with legs that most cloesly resemble large sausages.  I say that last statement in the most loving way, of course.  It turns out that the disposable diapers leave these huge indentations on Ryans thighs, and they get really red.  So, I went to find another diaper.  I found some that fit much better, but smell so horrible that we can never figure out if he pooped by smell, and as soon as they are wet, you can smell the diapers across the room.  I kept searching, and kept discovering that most disposables simply do not fit right, or are very chemical smelling.

Enter cloth.  I'm not talking about your old fashioned piece of material with pins.  No dunking and swishing.  No diaper service.  I'm talking about the new, modern cloth diaper.  Of course, there are tons of options out there for cloth diapers now, and it took a lot of research, and it just may take some trial and error.   The cloth diapers I settled on are All in Ones (AIO)  pocket, mostly for the fact that they are most like the disposable, and as a cloth first-timer, ease of use is a good thing.  The AIOs are well, just that.  They consist of a waterproof, outer cover, with all the absorbant material sewn inside.  They look just like a disposable, but have the added benefit of being adjustable in size, which is fantastic for Ryan.  The pocket diapers are cool too, because they have a waterproof outer layer, and a pocket inside, which you can stuff with inserts, meaning that you can vary the absorbency of the diaper, which is also very cool.  And, as an added bonus, they come in ultra-bright colors and fantastic prints.  I went with two brands, Fuzzibunz and Bum Genius.  Fuzzibunz Elite came very highly recommended, as the legs have adjustable elastic, which is a dream come true for this chubby-legged baby mom, they are also one size, so Ryan can wear them from now until he is toddling around, which is a good thing in terms of cost effectiveness.  The Fuzzibunz are pocket diapers, so I'll be able to play with them quite a bit in terms of absorbency. I went with Bum Genius because there are rave reviews of Bum Genius all over the Net.  It was a little trickier to order Bum Genius though, because they have a bunch of different styles.  So, I went with a little of each.  I ordered some of their 4.0s, which are pockets.  I then ordered some Bum Genius Elementals, which are AIOs made of organic cotton.  Finally, I ordered a few Freetime, which are new and are AI2, or All-in-Two, meaning that they are like AIOs, but you can adjust the absorbency with the two inserts that are sewn in. 

I received my order yesterday, and will start prepping the diapers tonight.

  Oh yeah, and prepping these two brands means sticking them in the washing machine.  No boiling or anything tricky. I hope to start daytime cloth diapering this week, and moving to nighttime diapering in a few weeks.  I can imagine that the learning curve with cloth is large, and I want to be patient with myself and with Ryan. As I gain experience with cloth diapers, I plan to enlarge my stash a bit, but for now, I think I have a nice assortment, and they are pretty "Daddy friendly," which is an added bonus.  I know that this is best to get Ryan out of disposables, and I'm excited to see my little Fluffy Butt!